Customer Reviews

The Kedrigern Chronicles Volume 1: The Domesticated Wizard

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the mid-1980s, author John Morressy began writing about Kedrigern of Silent Thunder Mountain, a most puissant wizard. Expertly combining traditional sword-and-sorcery Fantasy with humor, these stories are laugh out loud funny, and an excellent addition to the library of any Fantasy reader.

This book combines two of Morressy's full-length novels with six short stories, many of which I have never seen before. If you have never read the Kedrigern books, then I suggest that you get this book, and join the ranks of the Kedrigern fans. If you are already a fan, then all I can say is that you *must* get this book!

The following stories are included in this book:

A Voice For Princess (219 pages) - On a sparkling clear morning, Kedrigern discovers a princess who was turned into a talking toad by a bog-fairy. Ever the gentleman, Kedrigern attempts to break the spell, turning the unfortunate princess into a woman with a toad's voice!

Spirits From the Vasty Deep (12 pages) - When two aliens from outer space confront a primitive, non-technological Kedrigern they are in for a large and unhappy surprise!

Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain (14 pages) - When a pompous king and a scheming chamberlain try to humiliate and cheat Kedrigern, the wizard has the last laugh.

The Quality of Murphy (24 pages) - When a Djinni turns a kings daughter into a rat, they turn to the most famous wizard in all of Ireland: Conhoon of the Three Gifts. A great enemy of the foreign Djinn are local Pookas, and it is to Murphy the Pooka that Conhoon turns.

The Questing of Kedrigern (201 pages) - After Princess is re-enspelled, she and Kedrigern set out to break the spell. Their journey, though, takes them further than they expected...all the way to a world of technology, where magic is unknown.

Mirror, Mirror, Off the Wall (22 pages) - There's a witch trapped in a mirror, in five mirrors to be exact, and Kedrigern wants to release her. Unfortunately, only one mirror contains the real witch, while the other four contain reflections that it would be dangerous to release. What will Keddie do?

Nest Egg (17 pages) - When Kedrigern is called on to help an old client with a sick griffin, he immediately goes off to help, but sick griffins are not his specialty.

Floored (16 pages) - When a job brings Kedrigern less money than promised, he takes an old rug in exchange. But, this is no ordinary rug, it is a magic rug...er, one that doesn't want to be.

John Morressy's Kedrigern books have long been a hard-to-find favorite of mine, and I'm thrilled to see them republished in this form. Morressy is a very skilled writer, and he deserves to have a wider audience. Even for those who are not fans of "fantasy," Morressy's clever, multilayered humor, entertaining plots, and fantastical, yet familiar and believable characters transcend that genre. Kedrigern is a real gem of a creation.
(I can't say I cared for the cover art, though.)

John Morressy is one of those rare authors who can write within a popular genre and yet do it with intelligence, grace and wit. This first volume (of an anticipated three) introduces us to Kedrigern, a wizard at odds with his world, his wife Princess and his faithful retainer Spot (what else?). In this collection of novels and short stories, Morressy draws us into the sometimes absurd, often very funny, universe of a wizard who, a little tired of this world after some 160 years, is endlessly drawn away from the comforts of home into one adventure or another. The appeal here is universal, I think. For those with a taste for fantasy novels, one could do no better: Morressy gives you the magic, the journeys, the perils, the good--and of course the evil. For those new to the genre and who appreciate good writing and brilliant comedic prose, this is the best place to start. Included in the volume is a Foreward in which Morressy traces the origin of Kedrigern, and an Afterwards--a superb essay on its own, and one that should be handed out to writing classes everywhere--that could be titled "Why I Write". From reading The Kedrigern Chronicles one finds the answer: for the sheer pleasure in telling a good story well.

I've had the great pleasure of knowing the wizard Kedrigern ever since the books first began to appear some years ago. It's when I became a fan. To have them in this beautiful first volume of stories and novels is a great treat. Kedrigern is, well, a kind of Everywizard. To me, he's a wise old man, a bit weary of life, but graced with a wonderful mate, a few interesting servants, and some fascinating adventures. He's the kind of wizard who can appeal to both the scholars (there's something of Samuel Johnson in him) as well the modernists (he knows our centuries as well as we do, believe me). John Morressy is a stellar writer. He writes with an exquisite grace and an eloquence that serves his wry humor beautifully. Kedrigern is not just a wizard of his own times (though I'd think he'd fight me for that), he's a man for all seasons, all spells, and all adventures. Buy this, settle back, and wait for the next volumes that will tell the story of this often difficult and worldly old magician as he enters his, well, middle-age, I guess.

I have read John Morressey's Kedrigern stories in various pubs over the years, and have always enjoyed them. I even tracked down used copies of two of the books, but that left me wanting more! So I was thrilled when I saw that Meisha Merlin had published two omnibuses (thus far) that included Kedrigren stories and full-length novels.

"Vol. 1, The Domesticated Wizard", introduces us to Kedrigern with the very first stories Morressey ever wrote about the wizard. It includes two of the novels ("A Voice for Princess" and "The Questing of Kedrigern") and seven stories.

The basic ideas are pretty standard in fantasy - wizards, evil kings, princesses turned into toads, heroes, spirits, magic, swords, horses, trolls - but the story is told with little twists and a great deal of humor. Morressey is an amazing storyteller and wordsmith, creating characters you like and care about and want to find out what happens! Each story builds on previous stories, but each one can also stand on its own. I don't know if they were always so consistent, or edited to be that way in this volume, but they definitely work! (Having read two later novels, I think they were originally written that way... And it's hard to keep the facts straight about this world, let alone an imaginary one!)

I give the content of the book 5 stars, but the copy editing of the paperback is atrocious (1 star!). Every time I ran across an extra period, or missing period, or missing word, or missplaced word, which was often (every few pages!!!) it made me want to scream. For someone like Morressey, who obviously loves language, it's something of an insult.

But don't let those typos stop you - buy the book and enjoy!

The Kedrigern series belongs to the best in fantasy. Unfortunately the author is dead and the publisher went belly up, so you can get it only second hand (or illegally on the net).
Hopefully there will be a reprint or an e-edition.

The Kedrigern Chronicles, Volume One: The Domesticated Wizard is the first Kedrigern omnibus published by Meisha Merlin. It includes the novels A Voice for Princess and The Questing of Kedrigern, 5 short stories featuring Kedrigern, and one short story featuring Conhoon of the Three Gifts. Master of gentle, whimsical fantasy John Morressy wrote A Voice for Princess in 1986 and unleashed upon the reading public his homebody of a wizard Kedrigern of Silent Thunder Mountain. Morressy expertly marries liberal doses of humor, farce and slapstick with the hallowed conventions of the fantasy-adventure genre. It's a fun romp as the oft put-upon Kedrigern, who would invariably prefer to stay at home, heroically if reluctantly runs into and tangles with the traditional elements of fantasy literature.

Also enjoyable are John Morressy's informative 3-page foreword and 4-and-a-half-page afterword. One thing detracts from the pure enjoyment of this book: it's horrendously chock-full of misspellings and misplaced words, and glaring misuses of punctuation. The accumulation of errors bothered me, to the point where I have to detract one star from my rating. If you can live with the errors (I finally was able to), then this omnibus is in the five-star category. Actually, it's a must-have for Kedrigern fans, for the rare sightings of the short stories alone.

Here are the contents:

A Voice for Princess (novel) - this book introduces Kedrigern, Master of Counterspells. He is a young 160-year-old wizard; he has an extreme dislike of travel, a distaste for visitors and a loathing for alchemists. But, sometimes, to best service his clientele, he must leave his quiet home and go a-journeying. On one such trip, he encounters Princess, an enchanted toad. Heeding her plea for help, Kedrigern transforms her back into her beautiful body. However, there is an unexpected side effect: now, she only speaks in croaks. Kedrigern goes all out in his attempts to cure the vocally-stricken Princess.

"Spirits From the Vasty Deep" (short story) - An irritated Kedrigern pits his magical spells against the technological weaponry of befuddled alien invaders from outer space. This one's really fun.

"Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain" (short story) - Kedrigern teaches a lesson to a selfish king, whose neglected kingdom has been blighted by a long-term drought.

"The Quality of Murphy" (short story) - Ireland's Conhoon of the Three Gifts (introduced in A Voice for Princess) doesn't believe in counterspelling. He espouses the notion that a wizard exists to invoke spells and curses that would stick. However, a princess is turned into an ugly rat by a djinee from Araby, and Conhoon is employed to undo the curse. To accomplish his task, Conhoon seeks out Murphy the Pooka. A Pooka, you see, is Ireland's version of a djinnee. But pookas are fickle creatures of magic...as are djinnees...

The Questing of Kedrigern (novel) - Kedrigern and Princess are invited to the Wizcon, where Princess is turned back into a toad by an errant spell. Now the wizard and his bespelled wife must go a-journeying in search of a cure. Along the way, they are burdened with an unruly frog prince and an exuberant princess, both of whom test Kedrigern's temper. The foursome undergo zany and oft-times perilous adventures, climaxing in an eerie and unstable place where the nature of reality becomes very, very flexible. But it all ends nicely with Princess gaining functional wings and Kedrigern acquiring an imposing midnight steed with ruby eyes and a silver horn.

"Mirror, Mirror, off the Wall" (short story) - A wondrous mechanical bird comes swooping in, seeking aid for its master Aponthey, a genius with tools and gold - and an old acquaintance of Kedrigern's. Kedrigern and Princess visit Aponthey and discover that a crystal bell he owns contains a trapped spirit. Further investigation leads Kedrigern to yet another puzzle: 5 images of a witch is imprisoned in 5 vigorously enchanted mirrors, but only one image is the real witch. How will the master of counterspells release the genuine witch?

"Nest Egg" (short story) - An irked Kedrigern grouses as an old client requests his magical assistance with a household griffin suffering a mysterious malaise.

"Floored" (short story) - Kedrigern acquires a shabby-looking carpet and discovers it is ensorcelled to fly. However, the magic carpet Kurdestand (call him Stan) prefers to be a normal carpet and be walked upon and have tables and chairs placed on it. To quote Stan: "If carpets were meant to fly, we would have been given wings."

I found the book boring and somewhat predictable. I wouldn't recommend it for adults but perhaps it would make a good childrens book.